Disinterested

In common conversation today, that word (disinterested) would mean simply that someone had no interest in the subject.  But it means something different when historians use the term to refer to a historical figure.  If he or she is called disinterested, in the war for example, it means that he or she was not pursuing personal gain but rather acting in the interest of the country.

That would describe General Washington.  Loving his Mount Vernon home, thinking of himself as a farmer, he would rather have been there than commanding the war (as he mentioned several times during the war).

He led the army, let's call the army rustic at best, to a victory which maybe only wishful thinking could have foreseen.  The army and the nation loved and trusted him for his courage, his leadership through discouraging and almost hopeless circumstances.  Some wanted to anoint him king of America.

He turned his back on the tremendous power he'd acquired when the war was won. When King George III heard that Washington planned to go home, he exclaimed:

"If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world!"

(from The Founders at Home)